The present invention relates to the field of apparatus for closing bottles or similar containers by inserting corks, in particular ones made of natural cork or similar material, into the necks of the bottles.
For some time the applicant has been producing and marketing apparatus of the type referred to above, which comprise:
means for receiving the bottles to be corked and causing them to advance along a pre-determined path;
a plurality of vice-like devices, which are caused to advance synchronously with the bottles for compressing the corks to be inserted in the bottles radially, each vice-like device being associated to a respective bottle, so as to remain stationary above the bottle during advance of the latter;
a plurality of inserting devices, which are caused to advance synchronously with the bottles for the insertion of a cork into each bottle, each inserting device being associated to a respective bottle in such a way as to remain above the bottle during advance of the latter, each inserting device further comprising a presser stem, driven with reciprocating motion synchronously with the advance of the bottles, in such a way that the presser stem reaches a position of bottom dead centre when the bottle reaches an insertion station, in which the cork, which in the meantime has been radially compressed by the respective vice-like device is completely inserted into the neck of the bottle;
in which said long path of advance of the bottles is arranged at a starting station, where each vice-like device assumes an open condition defining a widened cavity for receiving a respective cork to be inserted; and
in which means are provided for feeding corks in succession into the widened cavities of the vice-like devices which come to be each time in the aforesaid starting position.
The purpose of the present invention is to improve the known machine mentioned above, enhancing its productivity and reliability with simple and relatively inexpensive means.
With a view to achieving this purpose, the subject of the present invention is a machine having all the characteristics that have been referred to above, further characterized in that means are provided for setting in communication the bottom of the cavity of the vice-like device, which each time comes to be in the aforesaid starting station, with a negative-pressure source, so as to suck the cork downwards in order to keep it oriented in the correct vertical position inside the aforesaid receiving cavity.
According to a further characteristic of the present invention, the means for feeding the corks in succession to the starting station comprise a conveyor device, which picks the corks up from a loading position and carries them in succession to the aforesaid starting station, and suction means for accelerating the corks in succession inside a feed channel up to the aforesaid loading position.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the aforesaid conveyor device is a wheel bearing a circumferential set of seats for receiving and conveying the corks. Once more, in the case of the aforesaid preferred embodiment, the path along which the bottles advance is a closed-loop path defined by carousel conveying means.